spiced vanilla bean chaidoodles

You may or may not know that I am on an official mission to make a snickerdoodle for every season. For some reason a plain snickerdoodle just doesn’t quite do it for me in the cookie department. I always feel like there needs to be little more sassiness (by which I mean spice) and cinnamon by itself just doesn’t cut it with my ol’ taste buds.

Springtime brought us poppy seed lemondoodles but then summer got away from me and I got distracted with picnics and boozy slushies and cobbler cakes and flip-flops. I have only myself to blame.

You could say that the pumpkin snickerdoodles from last year were a perfectly suitable fall version but I’ll admit that that would kind of be cheating since they are simply pumpkin cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar. Delicious, yes, but not really a snickerdoodle in the legitimate sense.

Chaidoodles are however, The Official Fall -doodle. Let’s get this one in the books friends, because the chaidoodle is likely to stay around in your collection for a while.

Melted butter makes these cookies soft, but cream of tartar and baking soda provide lift and help to give them the classic cake-like texture that people love about snickerdoodles. And they are full of spice! You could also call them spice-a-doodles! I will admit that because I always want more spice in most everything I consume I went a little spice overload. I went through my spice rack and put just about every spice I could find into these cookies. [Pause for helpful hint time! Since spices can be a tad expensive, find a store with a bulk spice department and stock up on just a small amount of a variety of spices. They stay fresher, and you save money. End pause.] The spices are mixed with sugar and incorporated into the cookie dough as well as the coating and they all work together to create major flavor.

Hopefully these chaidoodles will get you by (and through all of your fall baking needs) until I can come up with The Official Winter -doodle!

Spiced Vanilla Bean Chaidoodles
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Inspired by their springtime cousin the Poppy Seed Lemondoodle

For the chai doodle:
1 cup (220 grams) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons (3 grams) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground ginger
1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground clove

For the cookie:
6 tablespoons (85 grams) butter
1 3/4 cups (218 grams) flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon (3 grams) cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) vanilla extract
one vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped

In a small bowl whisk together the sugar and all the spices for the chai doodle. In a small saucepan over low heat (or in the microwave) slowly melt the butter.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and 1/2 cup (about 110 grams) of the spiced sugar. Set aside the remaining spiced sugar for rolling the cookies.

In a medium bowl whisk together melted butter, eggs, extract and vanilla bean seeds until everything is well combined and smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until the flour is incorporated. The dough will be a little sticky. Chill the dough for 30 minutes (or overnight).

Preheat the oven to 375 and line baking sheet with parchment. Using a scoop, drop one ball at a time into the remaining chai doodle sugar and roll it around until covered. If you are feeling fancy – give them all a double roll in the sugar which will make them double delicious! Place on the prepared sheet, leaving enough room between cookies since they will spread a little. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly brown and the centers are cooked through.

Let cool on the sheet for several minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.